William h



(-No Medal.)

W. H. DUNLAP & J. KETOHUM, Jr.

' I MANUFACTURE OF'HATS.

Patented Nov. 27, may

INVENTORS Williamfllmw- By their .llfzorneys .VILLIAM H. DUXLAP AND JOSEPH KETOHUM, JR, OF BROOKLYN, N. Y.

MANUFACTURE OF HATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 283,986, dated November 2'7, 1883.

Application filed April 14, 1883. (X0 model.)

In all whom nuty concern.-

Be it known that we, XVILLIAM H. DUNLAP and J osnrn Knroncn, J12, citizens of the United States, and residents of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have jointly invented certain" new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Hats, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates particularly to the process of removing the moisture containedin felt hats after the application thereto of size for the purpose of stifiening the material.

The object of the invention is to lessen the time required for drying the hat, to cause the size or stiffening material to penetrate the entire body of the felt, and to reclaim the solvent employed as a vehicle for the size.

At a certain stage in the process of manufacturing hats it is necessary to incorporate in their structure a quantity of shellac through the agency or menstruum of alcohol, ammonia, or other solvent. After being saturated with this stiffening material, it has been customary in-the former methods to place the hat in a drying-room, for the purpose of evaporating the solvent and whatever moisture may have been retained from the previous processes, and to force dry heated air or live steam through the rooms. The alcohol, ammonia, or other solvent vaporizes and passes off, to gether with the moisture, and is lost. It has been necessary to subject the hats to a drying process of this character for twelve hours or more, and it has been found impossible to obtain a sufficiently rapid evaporation to prevent the shellac from solidifying through the exterior portions of the fabric before themoist- 'nre has been extracted from the portions midway between the surfaces. A certain quantity of aqueous moisture is thus confined in the intervening portions of the body, and the stiffening material, which is thus at first prevented from penetrating that portion of the felt, becomes set before the moisture is driven from the same. There is left thus between the stiffened portions of the felt an intervening stratum of unstiffened felt of greater or less thickness, according to the perfection of the process. This intervening stratum greatly lessens the firmness of the hat.

Our invention consists in removing the moisture and solvent by placing the hats, after they have been saturated with the solution of stiffening material, in suitable vacuum cans or cylinders and exhausting therefrom the air. The air, or as great a port-ion thereof as is practicable, as it is withdrawn from these cylinders, is caused, together with the vaporized moisture and alcohol or ammonia, to pass through suitable apparatus adapted to condense whatever solvent has been employed. The fluid thus recovered is collected in a suita ble reservoir, while the air itself passes to the exhausting-chamber. The time during which it is necessary to allow the hats to remain in the vacuum-cylinders may be varied Within wide limits but in practice if the hats are al lowed to remain in the cylinders from one to three hours after a high vacuum is created it is found suflicientto effect the required evaporation. Not only does itresult from the rapid evaporation of the moisture and solvent occasioned by the high vacuum that a saving of time is secured, but also the moisture is removed from the entire body before the shellac or other stiffening material has become set, and the latter is caused to penetrate and to be evenly distributed through the entire body of the felt. To better insure an even distribution of the stiffening material, and also to assist in the process of evaporatiomwc prefer to maintain the vacuum-cans at a temperature of from 90 to 115 Fahrenheit.

In the accompanying drawings we have shown in Figure 1 a convenient organization of apparatus for carrying out our invention. Fig. 2 represents a cross-section of a piece of felt which has been treated according to the former process, and Fig. 3 is a like view of a piece of felt which has been treated according to our improved method.

Referring to Fig. 1, A, A and A represent a series of vacuum-cylinders of any suitable construction, adapted to receive the hats from which the moisture is to be removed, and B represents an air or vacuum pump adapted to remove the air from the cylinders A. A tube or pipe, 0, connected with the pump B, is provided with branches cc c respectively communicating with the cylinders A A A.

interposed in the pipe 0 is a condenser, D,

preferably consisting of aspiral coil of the 2 esss se tube 0, around which is placed awater-chamber, E. Through the chamber E a continuous stream of cold water is forced by means of suitable inlet and exit pipes e 0 Beneath the condenser D is a reservoir, F, through which the tube 0 is led. WVhatever condensation is produced. in the condenser D is collected in the reservoir F, while the atmosphere or gas passes off to the air-pump B. Suitable stop-cocks, r/, and check-valves are inserted in the various pipes or tubes, as may be necessary.

For the purpose of maintaining the temperature of the cylinders A at any required degree, steam-pipes H, communicating with any suitable steam-supply, are employed. These pipes preferably encircle a portion of the cylinder, and are provided with'suitable stopcocks, h, for determining the quantity of heat to be received therefrom; or the vacuum-cans may be placed. in a drying-room, where a suitable temperature is maintained.

The operation of the apparatus has been sufficiently indicated in the foregoing description. In Fig. 2 the appearance of felt which has been stiffened according to the process heretofore employed, is represented. The layers K K represent, the exterior portions of the felt which have been penetrated by the shellac, and m represents the intervening portion of comparatively pure felt. Heretofore it has been found impossible to manufacture hats without this intervening unstiffened portion. In Fig. 3 is represented a cross-section of a piece of hat-felt having the same consistency throughout its body. Such a fabric is obtained by treating the felt in the manner de scribed as our invention.

We donotherein claim the finished product-namely, a felt hat stiffened equally throughout its entire thickness, which has first been produced by our processas it is our intention to embody such claim in a future application.

We claim as our invention- 1. Thehereinbefore-described method or process of stiffening hats, which consists in applying thereto a stiffening material in solution, and subsequently removing the solvent therefrom by exhausting the air or atmosphere from the receptacles in which they are placed.

2. A stiffened hat which has been dried in vacuum, substantially as described.

3. The hereinbeforedescribed method of drying hats and recovering the solvent used in stiffening the same, which consists in vaporizing said solvent by removing the atmospheric pressure and afterward condensing the vapor thus formed.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names this 12th day of April, A. D. 1883.

\VILLIAM H. DUN LAP. JOSEPH KETOHUM, JR.

Vitnesses:

CARRIE E. DAVIDSON, CHARLES A. TERRY. 

